Letters to the Editor, July 23

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, July 23

War on Iraq is unjustifiable
To the editor:
   
I love this country. In what other country could a son of Polish immigrants become a CEO of a rapidly growing, global corporation? It is my love of this country that prompts me to write this letter to express my anger over the current state of affairs in Iraq.
   On a recent trip to California, I listened to a tape of World War II songs — songs like "Let’s Remember Pearl Harbor," "Coming in on a Wing and Prayer," "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition," "When the Lights Go On Again All Over the World" and so many others, including a song sung by Gene Autry about a "cripple" who pleaded with Uncle Sam to let him do his part. These songs expressed an American solidarity that flowed from a clarity of purpose about why we were engaged in war.
   I am old enough to remember WWII, to remember the reasons our young men and women fought and died. The reasons were to preserve our liberty and to preserve everything that is America. We were ready to raise our voices in anthems that expressed this mood and fighting spirit.
   What songs will be written about our ill-fated war in Iraq? What lyrics would make sense of 900 young men and women dying there and thousands being injured there? What hymn of solidarity could ever pull us together with a war we did not need to fight? Why are Americans dying every day in Iraq — not to speak of thousands of innocent Iraqis — when Iraq had nothing to do with Sept. 11?
   It took us over one month to put boots on the ground in Afghanistan, giving our real enemies, the al-Qaida, ample opportunities to escape and to fight another day — as we have seen to our great dismay. Taking focus off the real enemies in Afghanistan, we have seen a terrible resurgence of al-Qaida and their kind strengthening their position and influencing more young people.
   It is horrible enough to have had our young men and women die in WWII, but they did for a reason — to defend our country. I am bitter and angry to have our young people die every day because our president wanted to "Get Iraq." That is no rea- son for Americans to die — that is no reason for anyone to die.
Herbert M. Greenberg
President and CEO
Caliper
Carnegie Center Drive
West Windsor
Seniors may be key to blood crisis
To the editor:
   
Regarding the "Critical blood shortage brings plea for donors" (The Packet, July 20), some of the deficit of blood donors might be overcome if it were made simpler for those over 65 to donate.
   Many seniors were regular donors until age 64, when it became necessary to obtain a doctor’s note to continue to donate at Princeton Hospital. Since many of us are healthy and rarely see a doctor, this annoying requirement can be enough to knock us permanently off the donor list.
   Has any consideration been given to raising the age necessary for "a note from the doctor?"
Jerry Berkelhammer
Allison Road
Princeton
"Headless" art has cruel associations
To the editor:
   
We returned from traveling and went to our wonderful Princeton University Art Museum — that is, "wonderful" once you get past the first hall with the Brillo box and other quite outdated effects that curators can talk so much about.
   What do we find in front of the museum as the new entrance decoration? A group of dark, beheaded figures. Some still show the sliced neckline sticking out of the shrouds that envelop their bodies.
   Today (July 21) is the day they announced the finding of the head of the recently beheaded American engineer, Paul Johnson, in Saudi Arabia. Today is the day that six more hostages were taken by the terrorists and are threatened with beheading in Iraq, where so many others actually already were.
   Other bystanders at the museum were equally at unease about those figures.
   Did the art museum not notice that what once may have been an artistic gag by now is loaded with the most cruel associations — ever since the American journalist Daniel Pearl was beheaded by terrorists in Pakistan in February 2002?
   Is it not coarsely insensitive to the suffering of those victimized by all the recent beheadings, their families and their friends — to all of us as a nation stuck in that quagmire — to all of the world sinking deeper into archaic and fundamentalist cruelty?
   Only yesterday evening, I read Plutarch’s introduction to the life of Pericles: "… a man ought to apply his intellectual perception to such objects as … allure it to its … own proper good … objects we find in the acts of virtue, which also produce … an emulation and eagerness … that may lead to imitation."
   Do beheaded figures merely used as entrance decoration for Princeton University’s Art Museum in July 2004 serve the formation of our young students — of the common good, the community? What emotions do they produce in the viewers’ minds? What virtue of imitation do they lead to? Or are they just other objects of art like Brillo boxes? How insensitive can we get? Or do they just provide an opportunity for more words by curators?
   Curators (or statue selection committees) have a public responsibility, too.
Helmut Schwab
Westcott Road
Princeton
Gas service gone out the window
To the editor:
   
Did thoughtful customer service go out the window with the dinosaurs? I did not realize when I purchased my new vehicle that having a gas tank on the passenger side of the car would present such a problem at the gas station.
   Employees at Jimmy’s Gulf Station on Route 1 in West Windsor chose not to walk around to address me at the driver’s side window. Instead they reached through the passenger window and even the sunroof when collecting payment. I find these actions a bit invasive when I am alone in the car and my purse and personal belongings are on the passenger seat. Also, saying thank you when the money was exchanged is an important detail that was omitted on my visit.
   During a following attempt at a transaction, I waved the attendant over to my driver’s side window and he refused to walk around to address me there. Instead he walked back into the station. A second, female attendant approached my closed passenger window. When I waved her over, she waited and then proceeded to walk away. Needless to say, I left without being served.
   Next, I pulled into another station where the service was no better. Two male employees at Princeton Getty on Route 1 also refused to walk around to address me at the driver’s side window. With electric windows and the car already turned off, it doesn’t make sense for the attendant to wait while the car is restarted just so the window could be opened. Instead the attendant chose to bang on my passenger window until I opened it. He argued with me, insisting that it was more convenient for him to address me from the point closest to the pump. When I asked why he couldn’t walk around, he yelled at me and told me not to return. Then he closed my gas cover and waved me away.
   While the loss of my transaction is certainly not enough to hurt either of these businesses, isn’t it a shame to be treated in such a disrespectful manner? I have never been blatantly ignored or verbally harassed at a gas station before. Choosing which customers will be served does not characterize thoughtful customer relations. Offering pleasant, hassle-free service might be something that the gas stations on Route 1 might consider.
   A third gas station that I visited, the Princeton Junction Shell, offered courteous service with a smile and a thank you. A little kindness goes a long way.
L. LaMarra
Quail Ridge Drive
Plainsboro